Death is a Beautiful thing
by Necal
Summary: A 'young' mercenary encounters a powerful Dark Jedi, destroying the company he works for.  Rating and title subject to change.  Rating given for currently implied gore and a killing; actual gore is expected to follow.


Disclaimer; Insert standard disclaimer here.

A/N - I'm making up quite a bit of this as I go along. I'll be adding quite a bit to standard SW canon. Remember; if something doesn't agree with canon, then canon can sod off, to name-drop an author. A note on the writing here; everything is told from Thedak's perspective. For instance, in the second paragraph, it says that 'Jedi trained for life to kill each other'. When 'Jedi' is said, its a generic form for Force User. Remember; most civilians of the Galaxy don't know anything about the difference between a member of the Jedi order, a Sith, or any small groups.

General adoption policy; if at any point, you would like to continue off of a point, please feel free to start writing. Once you post the first chapter, give me a link. Don't tell me you intend to start before you actually post it; I don't want to be disappointed.

_Death is a beautiful thing..._

- Kaerdia the assassin

The slugthrower had hurt his hand when he fired it; they always did. Not like the focused recoil of a blaster; those were minor, and could hardly be felt without proper training. Slugthrowers... a big one could break your wrist if you're not careful. This one was a small one, something which a spy might have used. But Thedak didn't have it because he was a spy; he had it because it was the best he could afford. Still, it did the job. It saved his life. From an angry Jedi.

Thedak seemed to be in shock; Jedi trained for life to kill each other, and he did it in two shots.

"Kid" the voice of the mercenary commander behind him came out. "Double tap, or I'll do it for you." Thedak nodded; he was employed by this man, and he would follow his orders.

Thedak walked up, placing the tip of the slugthrower on the side of the Jedi's head, getting a good look at the face. It was... odd. The eyes were... wrong. Too big for humans, though everything else indicated the jedi was precisely that. Thedak figured it was one of thousands of near human species, just being a smidge off.

Thedak grabbed the slugthrower with both hands, to help with recoil, pulling the trigger. The head didn't explode; these slugs were whole piece, and didn't deform. It didn't matter. With the double tap policy, anyone who lived would have incredible brain damage. They would, in short, be no threat, except perhaps as bad PR. Still, those that would hire mercs with the reputation The Obelisk have probably search for bad PR.

Thedak was still for a moment, then stood up, looking back at his commander. "That was a waste. I'm hungry." The commander nodded, undestanding the childs unique biology.

"Don't worry, we will mostly be getting prisoners here. No one will notice if a few disappear. I'll have Vivackus deal with the bodies." Thedak sighed and nodded. "It was still a waste. I could have had my meal right there; what is a hundred drops of muddy water to a single drop of a fine wine?"

The commander shook his head, smirking, his red head tails swinging. "You are getting poetic again, Thedak. Take his saber; consider it a trophy. Then get back to the ship; you've done your job, and earnt your keep." Thedak simply nodded, bending over to pick up the saber hilt. It was of a curved design, and not seven inches in length. Thin as well, indicating a style which twirled the saber excessivly, even more so than other Jedi. He attached it to his belt, more as a status symbol than anything; killing a Jedi was considered to be quite the accomplishment, and was one of the reasons he was hired.

It was good arrangment, his employment; he pointed out Force Users, and they got prey for him. It was not the best prey, true, but it kept him fed, and the free time allowed him to study whatever he wished. He had not asked for money, not considering it necessary; the small slug thrower and the supplied bullets were working perfectly. Still, he was considering asking for a small allowance, as the wealth of knowledge on the holonet was not so wealthy. He could find that which was true, it simply needed to be sifted; to find the needle in the haystack, so to speak.

On his way into the mercenaries ship, which was actually an old and repurposed capital ship, Thedak stopped, feeling something bubbling on the edge of his consciousness. He recognized this feeling, if not the manner in which it happened; it was what the Jedi used, what they called the Force. He wasn't too sold on the specifics of the theory; he acknowledge the basic concept, that of a manipulatable energy field, but he had heard many theories explaining it in different ways. It was back in the complex...

Thedak's eyes widened as he realized what was happening; whatever was doing this was actively surpressing their presence, something he had never encountered, even near Jedi Masters and Sith Lords. Either very powerful, very skilled, or both, Thedak wanted no part of it. The feeling was truly malevolent, the way the Ancient of his kind felt to him. He dashed towards the ship, intending on resigning his commision, taking a ship (part of his prespecified severance plan), and running away as fast as possible.

_Ah ah ah, little one. I seem to be short of an apprentice. Now how did this happen?_

The voice stopped Thedak in his tracks; for the first time in all his memory, he felt true fear. Not the simple adrenaline rush he felt when the other Jedi rushed him; this was different. It was as if his body just realized it had no chance, and was only waiting for his mind to realize the same thing.

_There is much strong emotion in you, young one. That is good; anger and hatred, though useful, are not that which makes our kind. Merely accept what you are, embrace it, use it. You may run, child, though the Obelisk will no longer be alive to help you. Eventually... you will seek me out. And when you do, you shall find me._

_Now... Run, Rabbit, Run!_

What came next was a glass shattering laughter, high pitched and loud. It broke Thedak out of his stupor, instead making him dash even faster, his fear getting the better of him. He quickly found Kara, the Obelisks retirment specialist. That they even had one of these indicated that they were quite large. Kara seemed sad to see him go, but, as most Obelisks knew of his ancestry, she understood. Kara asked him to stop by soon; Thedak, still a wild look in his eyes simply asked for a registration for leaving. Kara sighed, pulled out a datapad, checked it, and gave it to him; it had the name of a small freighter, with a serial number and a lock code to activate it. Thedak thanked her, the first time he could remember doing it for any Obelisk, and dashed to the hanger.

Reaching his destination, Thedak quickly headed towards the ship he was to use. It was cramped; two weeks supplies (less than a quarter standard), and only a small bit of cargo space. Still it was all he needed. Unlocking the ships controls and launching it, Thedak sent the freighter as high as possible, setting warp drive coordinates the moment he could.

_Oh Theeeeeedak... I just want you to see something..._

An image flashed in Thedak's mind; a charged, burnt corpse. Though highly damaged, there was no doubt about it; it was the commander, Thedaks five year employer.

_Just keep that in mind... and that one day, you will be able to do that. Maybe even to me!_

The mental voice again devolved into insane laughter, this time intermixed with screams of pain and the humming of a saber. Either the Jedi was faking it... or he was transmitting everything of what he was doing. Thedak had to repress the urge to throw up. Instead, he simply worked the freighter as fast as possible to get it up to speed. Once at the proper range, Thedak hit the warp drive, heading to the one place in the galaxy he knew he would be safe.

His homeworld.

Anzat.

I actually had to edit some stuff, but may have missed something.

Short summary; tell me if anything is inconsistent. Thedak is an Anzati, he was hired by The Obelisk mercenary company to be a Jedi Sniffer, and now he's running back to his homeworld for protection. If I'm missing anything, feel free to tell me. If you have anything to say about the story, go ahead. I will respond to reviews which actually address something about the story; saying 'this is awful' or 'this is awesome' will not garner a response. Informing me why it is awful or why it is awesome will garner at the very least consideration, and probably a response (depends on if I have free time when I read the review).

This takes place 1653 BBY, during the New Sith Wars.


End file.
